“Your incompetence and trust in apprentices is what led to their escape at the hands of bounty hunters. You couldn’t defeat them and lost your eyesight as a result, that is YOUR failing. Lord Vader is only concerned that he has enough slaves for his secret project. Which YOU need to make sure the project on Kashyyyk continues without incident in order to meet his quota.”

“As Grand Inquisitor I have more pressing concerns as appointed by the Emperor. YOU are the one who needs to ensure the Kashyyyk project continues without incident.”

A thick silence falls over the holocomm as neither one responds to the other.

Grand Inquisitor Devis slams his hand on the console, then presses another key. The image of a red-haired Imperial with thick red sideburns appears on the holocomm. “Agent Ossnan, the criminals from The Last Resort have escaped our grasp. Find them and bring them back to Thule.”

“It will be done Inquisitor.”

Elsewhere…

Raithe takes a deep breath after severing the transmission with Devis. He presses a button on the side of the console and the image of an older human man with thick gray hair neatly trimmed appears. “Admiral Eves, I have some matters to attend to for a while, see to it that nothing interrupts the project on Kashyyyk.”

“Yes my lord. Eves out.”

As the blue light of the holocomm winks out in Raithe’s darkened chamber, it is filled with another blue light, that of a bacta tank. Raithe smoothly walks over to the tank and looks at the young Arkanian Off-shoot floating in the medicinal goo. “Well my son, we finally have some time together.”

Robbing The Hold

The Defiant Core: certainly an odd place. The bothan mused, his gray-flecked fur rippling. To reconstruct an old ship inside a natural formation is certainly a less expensive, and perhaps less conspicuous, way to build a base of operations. Haran grinned. He liked inconspicuous things. He stood at ease, metal hand gripped in the one of flesh and bone. The veteran spy stared at the shaft of sunlight coming down through the gap in the rocky formation and breathed the air that was heavy with machine oil and the faint odor of ozone coming from the nearby repair bays. Booted feet echoed off the permacrete behind him, alerting him that the General’s page had come to summon him. “Well, time to get the team back together,” he said, an amused smile spreading across his face.

Romar Kek struck Haran as the sort of man who would be better off with the Imperials. Granted, the cell-based resistance was a key to Alliance success so far; insulating it from foreigners was the correct move, but so too was cooperation. The crew of the White Wolf was used to going it alone though, so even the grudgingly minor assistance the General granted was preferable to nothing. Ion grenades would certainly come in handy if the intel about The Hold was true. It’d been a long time since he’d had to tussle with a sizable droid force, but even armor plating would crumple under his precision strikes. In the years since joining the Alliance, Haran had claimed mastery in the K’tara and Tae-Jitsu martial art forms and had even trained with Teräs Käsi warriors for a time. The servos in his mechanical arm whirred in anticipation.

Artus, a crack pilot as ever, guided them right through the web of probe droids while Haran pumped out a distortion field through the Wolf’s sensors. “Whoops,” chuckled the bothan, as he realized his over estimation of the droids’ capacitor relays. “Put a little too much juice into that one.” The other droids would eventually notice that the web had been compromised, but for their immediate purposes, it was good enough. The perimeter guards of the ‘dangerous’ prison also proved little detriment to the decorated team. As exfiltrations go, this one was running pretty smoothly. . .

Until it wasn’t. Apparently those in the command center had gotten wind of their activities and internal security was now working hard against the Rebels. Slowly the crew scaled the main spire: first up the empty turbolift shaft, then through the ventilation system, and ultimately on the building’s exterior. The arc-lightning of the turbolift defense system had been avoided easily enough, but clinging for dear life on the outer wall of tower is when things got interesting.

Haran’s sharp ears heard the repulsor’s spinning up from the structure’s peak and to his, not quite concealed, dismay, a thickly armored flying battlesuit descended to greet them. This was quite possibly the least advantageous situation he’d ever been in, perhaps with the exception of the fight with a certain warrior who’d been armed with a crimson lightsaber. The building shook under the repeated shockwaves and cannon fire put out by the rancor-sized shocktrooper. But the stalwart group of friends replied in kind as Tin Can’s heavy rifle repeatedly struck the carapace and the mind boggling strength of the Jedi’s power smashed it against the spire. The old clone nearly bit the dust when he was knocked off the wall, but was buoyed up on a pillow of Force energy!

Suffice it to say, they drove that thing off and scrambled nearly to the pinnacle before cutting their way back in. Always trying the least obtrusive means first, Haran wanted to get the lay of the land before they went about securing the control room; but one should never send a human to do a bothan’s job. Droids poured out in packs and the fight for the spire was renewed with ferocity. . .

Iaco Tabanne's personal log

I moved quietly toward the floating keep, and jump-jetted over. I quickly moved through the entry-way, and there was Raithe — and the rest of my team engaged in a pitched battle… losing. Something was off; how could this happen so quickly? I jump up to Raithe’s postion overlooking the battle, point my (his) lightsaber at him, and tell him to “stop this!” Raithe immediately knocks my blade away with his lightsaber and we begin to fight…

I seem to awake to a hollow laugh, and see Raithe stand from a kneeling position — it was a vision! Raithe tells me that I’ve made a foolish mistake, that I will most certainly be killed, and lunges toward me. I quickly jab at him, and catch him by surprise, but he delflects the blow at the least second. He smiles and says “good…” which is mildly unnerving. They trade a few ripostes, and I take a minor hit. All the while I’m maneuvering toward the exit, and I jump across the bridge and tell Raithe that, “it wasn’t his fault — he couldn’t have saved her.” He says that the Raithe that was is long dead, and wrests the lightsaber from my grip, tossing it down the chasm — calling it a relic from an obsolete era, or something. I quick draw my blaster and shoot out the support chain of the bridge, which also falls into the chasm, and costs Raithe his footing — then I launch toward the main temple.

I blast into the main room and hover between BX-1N and Cratala’s force cages, and take a shot at some storm troopers. I drop down and engage an inquisitor, who is quickly dispatched. I run interference for the gang, while they attempt to free the prisoners; however, things begin to go badly… Shira is killed, and Reom is unresponsive. I look over in time to see Sirahn get dropped — and Shorbecca get cut down, losing an arm! “Nooooooo!”

It's time to go.

Stealthily avoiding constant patrols of these strange troopers and walking weapons platforms, the group and I easily make it to the rear of the complex. Once there, we immediately begin to descend the vertical cliff face. A few minor slips don’t seem to bring us any harm or attention and we alight upon the canyon floor ready to split up for our respective tasks. The burly wookie and svelt sluissi make off with Reom towards what we had believed to be a hangar to secure the Krayt Fang for our no doubt hasty departure.
I move into the main complex we had identified to have the detention cells. So far, I appear to have moved around the place without being detected. I come to the detention cells and find them guarded. The two troopers at the controls are alert and ready. Not wanting to draw their attention, I sneak down the corridor, hiding behind bulkheads as I go. I reach my intended target cell an find it empty. I was told they’d be in this area… So without drawing any more attention to myself, I search the rest of the cells to find them empty as well. They must have been moved to a different location.
I radio to my companions that the cells are empty and the captives are nowhere to be found. The communication must have been detected, because at that moment the doors close shut with a hiss and four automated ion blasters drop from the ceiling and whur click into action. I immediately begin to dodge their fire and reach for my staff to knock them out. While I take out two on one end I take serious damage to my internal systems. Any buffers that were in place to defend against such attacks are quickly being destroyed. I continue to dodge and attack, all the while taking heavy ion damage from these blasted turrets. Just as I am about to destroy the last one, it gets a good bead on me. My systems are compromised and they begin shutting down.
I reboot and come to under the faint blue-white glow of a ray shielded tube. To each side of me are the prisoners that I was searching for, also held captive in similar containment. The vast chamber is filled with troopers hiding above, ready to leap down upon anyone foolish to enter.
Just then, the fools rush in. Shorbecca, Sirhan, and Reom, all looking worse for the wear. They must have had had similar problems. It’s too bad that I can’t move or speak to warn them of their impending doom. They’ve sprung the trap, one more in what I suspect to be a long series of traps that were set for us.
Bright weapons fire is coming in from all directions. Lightsabers are swinging back and forth.
The ray shielding that was keeping me locked up has been dropped. I see “The Master” the purple robed bastard that has caused all of these issues. I charge at him and extend my claws to attack him while he’s distracted by the team. Somehow, despite being set upon by all sides, the Devronian continues to dodge and deflect nearly all the attacks. This isn’t how things are supposed to happen.
Surrounded by bursts of light and screams of pain and anguish I find that engaging the Master to be a lost cause. Half of my team is severely wounded and we’re surrounded on all sides. I rush around applying stims to as many as I can, hoping to get them on their feet so that we can get the girls and get out of here as soon as possible. To do that, I’m going to need to drop as many troopers as I can. I charge an isolated pocket of them and note my gear is covered by a tarp. I bypass the troopers, skidding to a halt behind them, throw off the tarp and pick up my carbine to blast them all in the back. That felt good…
Just then, I hear Reom and Shorbecca scream/yarl. I look about and see the wookie has been disarmed, and Reom’s sister has been brutalized by a lightsaber. It’s time to go.

Elegy of the Fang

All was going well. Iaco had broken off from the group to seek his fate at that floating temple while the rest of use went stealthily along the ridge to approach the main structure from the rear. BX-1N, being the infiltration master he is, went to go rescue the two captives. “I suppose it’s better for him to be skulking down these dark corridors alone,” Sirahn muttered to Shorbecca as the droid’s muffled steps retreated into the gloom. The sluissi rubbed his scaly hands together, a greedy gleam in his eye. “Well, time to steal back the Fang from these thieving Imperials.” Shorbecca rumbled an agreement.

A thought wandered across Sirahn’s mind. What an odd situation. A massive hairy beast and slender reptilian sneaking around in secret Imperial compound on some long forgotten world at the outer edge of the Galaxy. “Not in my wildest imaginings did I think this would turn out to be my life,” he muttered to himself. A door slid aside to reveal the familiar sight of burnt orange paint, scored with pockmarks of many a battle. And what’s more, the loading ramp was down! The technician couldn’t believe their luck: they wouldn’t even need to waste time breaking in. The sluissi’s senses heightened by the various compounds coursing through his veins, he noticed the small squad of troopers who were guarding the ship. Ha, They weren’t even paying attention to the ramp!

Barely able to contain his excitement, Sirahn slithered forward, his tail whispering across the duracrete as he belined to the awaiting ship. He made it up the ramp with the bucketheads none the wiser, but as he was about to head to the cockpit he heard a faint beeping. Terror seized his whole body, as he turned head over tail to escape the old freighter. The Imperials weren’t as witless as he suspected. It’s a trap!

The explosion nearly killed the sluissi, but his amped-up reflexes saved him yet again. But the Fang! The ship lay as a piece of smoldering slag, bodies of stormtroopers littering the hanger. Ever since they started this clash with the Empire, everything around their little band seemed to be falling to pieces. Well, I’ll just have to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Shutting down the generators was no trouble for a snake of his skills and he left a mighty surprise for any who would want to reactivate those guns. Now to find BX-1N and get out of here. Apparently, this temple was a literal maze and the pair had no luck in finding the detention block. What they did find, however, was not inspiring. BX-1N, Cratala, and Reom’s sister all suspended in force cages while that despicable devaronian and some of his underlings were standing guard. Finally time to get the payback that these Imperials so rightly deserved. . .

Flying Rancors, oh my!

Suffice it to say, we kicked those Imperial cowards right off our station. Even that scary, no good Devaronian retreated while he had the chance. Double-spinny lightsticks my tail, ha! I wouldn’t want to stand and fight my stimmed-up wookie friend either. But then comes the bad news. Not only did my prototype starfighter limp back to the safety of the Star Destroyer (which could have easily blown our station into itty bits of space dust, but didn’t * raises nonexistent eyebrow*); but that Hutt-spawn Devaronian stole the ’Fang and chopped R1-V6 in half to boot. Kist, what is the Galaxy coming to when an elite Imperial Agent, Inquisitor, whatever he is, needs to steal an old smuggling ship. Mark my words, Journal, soon there will come a reckoning.

It’s a good thing we have a decent computer aboard The Last Resort. Let the whole Galaxy tremble when a lone snake-man can trace the trajectory of a starship gone to lightspeed clear across known space. * Maniacal laugh.*

What can’t I do? All we have is tiny shuttle and I was able, all by my lonesome I might add, to attach to the Imperial ship as it careened through space out of control and dock it with IsoOne. Of course, it would have been too easy for Kratala and Reom’s sister to be aboard: note the sarcasm, Journal. But we were able to capture the remaining Imperials, including an officer who yielded some helpful information.

Well, the interrogation only proved that my math was correct. Thule, eh? An obscure planet apparently: can’t even find any records on the place. Good thing I have an impeccable memory. I’ve heard the name of the system before: something to do with ancient ruins of one Jedi faction or another. But what’s this? It’s a trap? So said the officer, anyway; I’m sure BX-1N put the scare in him, so I doubt it was just bravado. Still, we’ve walked into traps before and come out unscathed and this time we’re not going in blind, so I don’t predict a huge problem. As long as the little hyperdrive on our shuttle doesn’t crap out, we should be good to go, especially now that we have all these grenades! It’s not as if we’ll get ambushed by some massive monster while traipsing across the planet’s surface.

Goodness gracious! Not only is it some massive monster, it’s a gargantuan beast that can fly! Although, I’m scratching my head about how the physics of this creature is supposed to work. . . I thought Shorbecca was a mighty warrior before, but he nearly decapitated that thing in a single blow! Sure, others helped, but its hide was as tough as stone and the wookie’s mighty vibroaxe (you’re welcome for the repairs, by the way) chewed through it all the same. Documenting the kill was a must. None of the others back at the University are going to believe this. Oh, and this was after we nearly crash landed on Thule because of the lightning storms encasing the planet: no big deal.

And now we come to it. Apparently, the Imperials have built a fortified compound around one of the aforementioned ruins. There even seems to be some giant stone floating of its own accord. Maybe this planet gives rise to some gravitic anomalies, allowing all sorts of things to become airborne that otherwise have no business doing so. Anyway, this place has decent fortifications, but we have a plan for that: can’t defend a base with big lasers if there’s no power. Apparently Iaco is having some ‘feelings’ about the Inquisitor guy and some other Jedi, but we saw half a dozen people training with those red sabers, so I guess this is some sort of recruit station. Plan A seems pretty good though: Iaco’s going to try and draw their attention (he should just wear those fancy threads he picked up on Vardrah station. Zing!) The rest of us will simultaneously do some infiltration and sabotage. I’d really like to have a whirl in that scout walker, but that might have to wait for another time, or it could just be Plan B if everything goes awry. . .

Dear Data Banks

Dear Data Banks,
The imperial shuttle launched from the Last Resort. I can only assume that they have Shira and Critalla may be on board. I decided to disable the engines so that they would not be able to reach the Star Destroyer with their bounty.
It had taken a few careful shots while the tie fighters attacked or made defensive screens, but I got in a lucky shot. As my blasters fired, a tie fighter got its wing clipped, causing it to careen off into the aft of the shuttle and knocking out their engines.

Later… Aboard Iso One, I briefly interviewed Captain Soandso. He was cooperative and told us everything that we wanted to know. The Captain even let us know about the trap that we would soon walk into. Note: Captain Soandso would like to be returned to the Empire, but we did not discuss in how many pieces.

Arriving at the Planet of Doom.
I believe I managed to sneak is undetected to the planet, however as we began to enter into the hellish atmosphere, we were struck down by one of the constantly occurring lightning bolts that streak across the sky. I managed to bring us down in one piece and we disembarked into the dense foliage of the forest.

Trekking through the lush underbrush with an ever choking feeling of dread, a massive beast leapt from the trees to set upon Iaco. Everything about this creature is gigantic, even the claws it used to crush and fling my comrade away. That is when it climbed into that plasma filled sky on huge wings.
Shorbecca and I opened fire on it and only seemed to make it more angry. It swooped down again, this time it came at me. The creature took a huge swing at me and despite my very best, I was not able to dodge out of the way. I had not been hit like that in a very long time. The power behind that claw had even felled a nearby tree. Luckily, the tree toppled on top of the beast. Iaco, recovered from his assault, drove his laser sword into the create and illicited a pained roar! I followed suit and began to stab furiously into its hide. Then, as the beast struggled under our blows and the weight of the tree, Shorbecca charged into its exposed belly and spilled the creatures entrails upon the ground. It died shortly thereafter and the wookie claimed a gargantuan wing as a trophy, draping it across his shoulders.

Overlooking the Temple, I commit this data to secured storage. If anything of myself survives this expedition, the accounts leading up to it shall…
Ominous beams of red swing and charge back and forth, clashing against each other in as much fury to match that in the sky above.
Strangely armored Stormtroopers look on as these force users train and spar under the watchful eyes of their masters.
Behind them all, batteries of turbolasers pan and tilt as they scan the area and Imperial Walkers shake the very ground as they patrol.

Iaco Tabanne's personal log

After rescuing the crew of Iso-One, we worked together to retake the bridge. Reom, and his men, laid down cover fire, while I pressed the attack — with Raithe’s lightsaber. I took a graze to the arm while engaged with a couple of bucket heads, but it was nothing serious. Once the bridge was secure, I noticed the Gold Star in a dog fight with several TIE fighters, and had the ship’s gunners take aim on the swarm; however, at that moment, an Imperial shuttle — leaving the Last Resort — passed through the hot zone, which slowed it’s egress. Reom said that he would NOT be leaving until his sister and Kratala were safe, so I took the Y-wing, and went to help in the search aboard the Last Resort. As I reached the docking bay, I noticed the Krayt Fang slipping away… what in the blazes?! Shorbecca met me inside, and informed me that our ship had been swiped, presumably by that damned Devaronian inquisitor. Kratala and Shira were nowhere to be found. The Imperial shuttle had been disabled in the fight, so we boarded it and captured some Imperials, whom we then questioned. I had to restrain BX-1N from torturing the Imperial officer, but I think he sensed that it would be in his best interest to cooperate, and we learned that their rendezvous point was on the outer-rim world of Thule — on the other side of the galaxy! We prepped for the long trip, and embarked on our journey across the stars aboard the Blockade Bandit.

Along the way, knowing what lay in my path, I studied the holocron and meditated on the correct course of action. Finally realizing that it was my destiny to face the former Jedi Knight, and my cell doner — according to Kratala — the man I once called Father; the man supposedly killed all those years ago by BX-1N, Raithe Harrak. When I last encountered him at that abandoned cloning facility, he said that when we next met, it would be as enemies. However, he did save my life that day, so I feel that there may be some wiggle room here.
As we closed in on the system, I began to have hazy visions of what was in store for us: a stormy, and dangerous world; dark forces lay in wait, and there among them, Kratala and Shira.

We left the Blockade Bandit in deep space, and took a small shuttle to the planet Thule. Upon arriving, we could see a cluster of Imperial star destroyers massing over an ancient temple I had seen in my vision. We decided to take the back way in, and encountered some severe weather, and we had to make an emergency landing. Thank the Force, we were all unscathed. We gathered our equipment, and headed out toward the temple.

We were walking carefully through the thick foliage, when what appeared to be a flying rancor swooped down and sent me reeling back with quite an umph. Reactingly quickly, BX-1N released a barrage of blaster fire into this winged monstrosity — with seemingly little effect. Shorbecca carefully took aim with his bowcaster, and brough the beast down with one shot — great shot! BX-1N lunged for it, but the creature swatted him away like an Dantooinian mud-fly — knocking over a tree in the process, and pinning the creature! I launched myself at the creature with lightsaber in hand, dealing a serious blow, but it was Shorbecca who landed the final strike, ending this alpha predator’s reign of terror.

When we finally arrived at the temple complex, it was as I had seen in my vision, with the notable addition of several inquisitor trainees, practicing their lightsaber techniques… We decided on a plan to split up: BX-1N would rescue the hostages, while Shorbecca, Sirrahn, and Reom would deactivate the power to the turbo-laser sentinels, and I would strike off alone to face Raithe. May the force be with us…

Goldstar in Space

The Goldstar Disembarks from the Krayt Fang and makes a b-line for the more relative safety of the shadow of the imperial cruiser. Dozens of tie fighters swarm towards me and I try to evade them as best I can while trying to take a few of them out in the process.

The Iaco Taco is right behind me, we take turns picking off the fighters as we all trade hits. As their numbers begin to dwindle I notice the cover fire of the cruiser has suddenly stopped. I tell Iaco that’s his chance to hit the tractor beam and he looses a devistating torpedo against the hull of the cruiser and knocks out the beam. This causes the cruiser, the Blockade Bandit, to be released and it instantly jumps into hyperspace and escapes.

I have no idea what’s happening aboard Iso One, but I can see that the Fang is about to make a landing into the Last Resort. As it breaks away from its own tie ‘escort’ I send my last concussion missile at the funny looking tie. The missile looks painfully slow as it streaks across space, but I locked on and it detonated before any of them could escape. The blast took out all but the strange unidentified vesssel, causing it to limp off.

By that time, the Krayt Fang had docked and I can only assume that my companions were searching the station and retaking it. Meanwhile, Iaco had landed the Iaco Taco aboard the ISO One. This left me alone in space to deal with the might of the empire… I am watching. I am waiting for my chance.
The moment the barrage stops I will make an attack run for the tractor beam.
Suddenly, I see a narrow cooridor open up as the barrage lightens. The wall of energy beams still fall around me but I make my pass and fire at the emitter. It is not a good hit, but it was effective. The beam holding ISO One in place has relinquished its grasp, but the ship didn’t move to escape.

Is Iaco in trouble? Has ISO One been disabled? Tune in next time when we find out!

Laminate Armor < Fusion Cutter

“Those thieving Imperial scum!” Sirahn cursed through clenched teeth. The Krayt Fang rocked under the laser blasts of the very ship he helped design. Somehow the Imps were blocking transmissions to or from the Fang, but looking out the viewport, the Sluissi pilot could see the snubfighters bobbing and weaving to avoid the spray of the normal TIEs. But he had to stop worrying about them and focus on delivering himself and the wookie to The Last Resort so they could take back the station from the boarders. . . and get some payback!

Sirahn saw a burst of light blossom on the underbelly of the Imperial Star Destroyer allowing the Blockade Bandit to instantly jump to Hyperspace. “All right, one down.” The old YT-1300 made a beeline for the station’s hangerbays and while the Sluissi pulled into the bay, he could hear the great hairy warrior readying himself for battle. The pair rushed off the ship as soon as it had settled on the deck, but apparently A6 had somehow beat them both to the nearest computer console. “Well of course the computers are locked out,” he remarked when the astromech reported no joy. Assuming we and the station come out of this in one piece, I’d better put a backdoor into the computer system so this sort of crap won’t happen again. But this thought was just squirming around in the back of his mind while he quickly readied another dose of stimulants: time to get pumped up!

“What in Darkspace. . .?!” the Sluissi exclaimed as he saw four Stormtroopers gunned down in a single volley of Shorbecca’s powerful blaster. The pair had heard a scream which led them to the hanger opposite the Fang. Luckily there was still one standing close enough. A maniacal grin spread over Sirahn’s features as his trusty Fusion Cutter flared to life, throwing off a brilliant blue light. Moving as fast as his stimmed-up tail could take him, he threw himself at the trooper, sparks flying as the torch cut through the ivory armor like his starfighter through the void. “That. . . is. . . my. . . ship!” he whispered to the screaming Imperial, carving a heart right into the breastplate. More blaster fire came from behind some crates and the bowcaster replied in turn. Time to get me a sergeant.

This time, Sirahn didn’t go for the artistic approach, instead thrusting the pinprick of starlight straight through the trooper’s eye socket. Skin and laminate alike bubbled under the ferocious heat of this little mechanic’s tool. Once the body stopped twitching, the Sluissi glanced around looking for the source of the woman’s voice, but there was none to be found. “That’s odd. . .” Shrugging, he pulled out his datapad and scanned the nearest floor of the station, searching for life signs. Unfortunately, there were hits on both the command level and the level below the docking ring. Well, at least if they went upward, they’d be able to re-establish control of station.

Another squad of Stormtroopers came out from the adjacent hanger, guns leveled. Good thing Sirahn had brought along a souvenir from the sergeant. Using the helmet as a hand puppet, the Sluissi pretended to have a conversation with the deceased trooper. His scare tactic worked, much to his own surprise, as the Imperials scampered back the way from which they’d come. Just a short ride in the turbolift to the next objective.

Well this was a mistake. . . Twin red beams created a disc of light as the kriffing persistent devaronian stood in the center of the room. Sirahn wasn’t going to stick around for this; he’d let the wookie handle this one while he found the prisoners which he suspected were being kept in the crew quarters, but not before giving a quick shot of juice to his friend. Shorbecca is finally coming around. The Stormtrooper squad gave little resistance against Sirahn’s assault of explosives followed by his trusty ’Trooper Penetrator. I really need to come up with a better name for this. he mused, as the last of the armored Imperials clattered to the deck.